Captain Underpants

Story

Fourth graders Harold and George ‘accidentally’ turn their principal into Captain Underpants, a comic book superhero who gets the boys into lots of rude trouble.

Why we chose it

Stories about the things that children find funny – even if adults sometimes don’t.

Where it came from

Dav Pilkey started writing Captain Underpants stories as a child and his novels are based on his original ideas. In an interview he said he goal was to make children laugh and give them a positive reading experience at a time when many children are not that interested in reading. For the same reason he defends his books as they are based on things which children find funny, even if sometimes adults don’t agree.

Where it went next

There are currently 12 Captain Underpants books, two activity books, an animated TV series and a feature film released in 2017. The novels have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Associated stories

There are a number of Captain Underpants spin-offs, the main two being Dog Man and The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby. Dog Man is a surreal comic book series about the part-man, part-dog police officer who features in the main Captain Underpants series. In The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, a baby steals Captain Underpants’ powers and uses them to get into trouble.